Welt with rib



Nov. 20, 1962 1-1. D. DANIELS WELT WITH RIB Filed Jan. 20, 1960 INVENTOR. [lira/1Q. pawl? United States Patent 3,064,368 WELT WHH RE Harold D. Daniels, North Grafton, Mass, asslgnor to L. Farber Welting (Iompany, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Ian. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 3,636 4 Claims. (Cl. 36-78) This invention relates to split reverse Welts for use in shoe manufacture.

Conventional split reverse welt is made, by splitting the inner edge of a welt strip substantially midway between its top and bottom surfaces, so as to form upper and lower layers. In order to apply the strip to the shoe, the layers have to be separated and, for this purpose, the strip is fed through a guide on the inseam stitching machine, which spreads the layers apart as the strip is brought into position for sewing. However, the resistance of the layers to separation, even when the strip is grooved at the top side, is so great, particularly when the strip is being laid around sharp corners, that the operator has to force the shoe through the machine. In spite of these difllculties in use, split reverse welt in very popular in certain kinds of shoes and is used widely.

The principal object of this invention is to obviate the aforesaid difliculties encountered in the use of split reverse welt and this is accomplished herein by employing a split reverse welt in which the upper layer at the inner edge is permanently separated from the lower layer by a layer split from the top side of the outer edge, which is displaced laterally and reunited to the outer edge, that is, the extension, so that the layers cannot close on the guide in such fashion as to interfere with the free feeding movement of the shoe during the inseam sewing operation. A further object is to provide a caulking flange elastically resistant to displacement and this is accomplished herein by omitting the groove at the base of the caulking flange, so that the grain surface at the outer side of the caulking flange is continuous with the top surface of the extension.

According to the method of manufacture, a strip of uniform cross-section is split from its opposite edges, intermediate its top and bottom surfaces, in spaced parallel planes, the splits extending from the edges inwardly toward each other. The upper layer, separated by the split at the inner edge, is folded upwardly to form a caulking flange and the upper layer, split from the outer edge, is pulled laterally to hold the caulking flange upright and is then attached to the lower layer by adhesive. The strip is now subjected to molding to compact the substance of the welt to give it a permanent shape and the excess at the outer edge is trimmed off.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a welt strip from which the welt is to be made;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the welt strip, partially formed by cuts extending inwardly from the lateral edges;

FIG. 3 is a section of the welt strip, partially formed, with the rib set upright preparatory to molding and trimming; and Y FIG. 4 shows a vertical section of the finished welt in its relation to a shoe to which it is to be attached.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a strip of welt material from which the welt provided by this invention can be conveniently formed. As illustrated, the welt strip is preferably rectangular in cross-section, but it should be understood, that the welt can be formed from strips of other cross-section within the scope of this invention. The welt material is preferably leather of the type conventionally used in making welts, but can be any similar material which is more or less stilf and which has at least alimited amount of inherent resilience. The welt strip 19 has a top surface 12, a bottom surface 14 and opposed sides 16 and 18 respectively, the top surfaces being grain and the bottom and sides flesh.

In forming the welt from the welt strip 10, the strip is first slit along the opposed sides 16 and 18, as at 20 and 22, respectively, to provide upper and lower layers of welt material, 24, 26 and 28, 3%, respectively, at each side of the strip. The slit 22 may be substantially deeper than the slit 20, as shown in FIG. 2, so that the layers 28 and 30 are relatively longer than the layers 24 and 26 at the opposite side of the strip. Also, the slit 22 is preferably made closer to the top surface 12 of the welt so that the layer 23 is relatively thinner than the subjacent layer St]. The slit 2%, at the side 16, however, is preferably made substantially midway between the top and bottom surfaces 12 and 14, so that the layers 24 and 26 are of apprommately the same thickness, and so that the layer 24 is relatively thicker than the layer 28. The length of the slits with reference to the edges and their location with reference to the top and bottom surfaces is, however, a matter of choice which will be governed by the dimensions required in the finished strip. It should also be understood that although the slits 2t and 22 are shown parallel to the top and bottom surfaces of the welt strip, which is the preferred construction, the slits could be inclined relative to the top and bottom surfaces of the strip Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

A groove 32 is made in the bottom surface 14 for re ceiving welt-attaching stitches as will be explained below.

After slitting, the layer 28 is displaced outwardly, to the right, as shown in FIG. 3, relative to the subjacent layer 39, and is secured to the layer 30 by cementing or other suitable means. Since the strip has been slit at 24 and 22, displacement of the layer 28 tends to move the entire top surface of the welt strip in the same direction and this displacement is principally opposed by that portion of the welt strip, indicated at 34 in FIG. 3, by which the top layers 24 and 28 are joined to the bottom layers 26 and 30. The tensile stresses produced in the layer 28, at its junction with the layer 24, pull the layer 24 upwardly about the portion 34 as a hinge and support the layer 2 upright in the form of a caulking flange, in spite of the stresses developed at the inner side of the layer 24 which tend to restore it to its original position. Thus the upper layer 24 which constitutes the caulking flange is held separated from the lower layer which constitutes the attaching flange.

Preferably the welt strip is subjected to compressive molding to compact the surfaces and to set the adhesive. The excess at the outer edge of the layer 28 is trimmed ofl at 36 flush with the subjacent layer 30.

By making the welt in this fashion the groove conventionally cut in the top surface of the strip, at the inner end of the top layer to facilitate upward folding, may be omitted so that the outer surface of the caulking flange and the top surface of the extension, that is, the outer edge have an uninterrupted continuous grain surface. As thus constructed the caulking flange is much more elastically resistant to deflection in the finished shoe.

When attaching the welt to the insole rib, the guide of the inseam sewing machine spreads the caulking flange and attaching flange further apart so as to lay the caulking flange 24 against the upper and the attaching flange 26 downwardly against the sewing rib. The initial separation of the caulking flange and attaching flange, as described above, however, is such that further separation by the guide to lay the caulking flange and attaching flange in position does not cause binding in the guide and hence interference with the inseam attaching operation. As shown, the flange is fastened to the inner sole rib (FIG. 4) by stitches 42. The stitch-receiving groove 32 is preferably located beneath the caulking flange 24, as that the stitches can be drawn deep enough to permit trimming close to the undersurface of the insole.

As point out heretofore, the tensile forces at the inner side of the caulking flange 24 enhanced by the absence of a groove at the outer side, resist further deflection away from the upper in the direction indicated by the arrow b (FIG. 4), while the tensile forces at the outer side of the caulking flange resist return of the caulking flange in the direction of the arrow a toward its initial position in contact with the attaching flange 26.

Although the preferred embodiment of the welt and the preferred method of making the Welt have been here described for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents thereof which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A one-piece shoe welt comprising a flat welt extension, having along one marginal edge an attaching flange and a caulking flange, said flanges being constituted by integral portions of said one marginal edge which have been severed from each other inter-mediate the top and bottom of the extension and separated at an angle to each other, said flanges being further elastically separable and having interior and exterior surfaces, the interior surfaces intersecting at an angle, the exterior surface of the attaching flange lying in the plane of the bottom surface of the extension and the exterior surface of the caulking flange being situated at -an angle to the top of the extension,

and said extension comprising superposed, coextensive upper and lower layers integral with each other and the flanges adjacent the marginal edge, the lower layer being relaxed and the upper layer-being disposed under tension against the lower layer and united thereto by adhesive to hold the caulking flange upright relative to the attaching flange.

2. A one-piece shoe welt according to claim 1, wherein the attaching flange and caulking flange comprise layers of substantially equal thickness. Y

3. A one-piece shoe welt according to claim 1, where in the top and bottom layers of the extension are of different thickness, the bottom layer being the thicker of the two. 4. A one-pieceshoe welt according to claim 1, Wherein the exterior surface of the caulking flange and the upper surface of the upper layer of the extension are formed of grain leather which is unbroken at the intere section of the surfaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

